Events & Local Happenings

The Arts Council presents a variety of events throughout the year, at the Coconino Center for the Arts and in other venues around Flagstaff. At the Center, you’ll experience art exhibitions, compelling concerts, and more. Around Flagstaff, we host performances on downtown Flagstaff’s Heritage Square, concerts in the idyllic setting at the Arboretum at Flagstaff, and Navajo Rug Auctions at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Learn the basics of botanical illustration with Sheila Murray, Arboretum Research Botanist and Artist. Learn how to translate what you see in the natural world into scientifically accurate and aesthetically pleasing works of art. Basic skills learned will include composition, three-dimensional rendering, black ink pen technique, some botanical anatomy fundamentals, and drawing from herbarium specimens.

Each participant will take home the supplies provided, as well as their new artwork.

Instructor Sheila Murray is most interested in the rare and endangered plants of the Colorado Plateau. Sheila grew up in the small ghost town of Jerome, AZ and has always had a love of the outdoors. She moved to Flagstaff to pursue a career in the natural sciences and received her B.A. in Environmental Sciences from Northern Arizona University. When she finds free time, she enjoys river rafting, hiking, cross-country skiing, creating botanical illustrations and indulging in other forms of artwork. Most of her free time activities inevitably include botany in some fashion.

Monday evenings, 6-9pm, June 3- July 22, 2019*Make up date schedule for July 29. Drop-ins welcome!

The Flagstaff Arts Council will host open sessions for artists to draw from a live model in the main gallery at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The eight-week series is for those artists who would like to practice drawing or other art working from a live model but do not wish to have instruction. Participants may register to attend all eight sessions at a discounted rate: $130 for Arts Council members and/or students, or $140 for the public. Otherwise, participants may sign up for individual dates at $18/session for members and $20/session for nonmembers.

Please note that there is NO instruction provided. Frederica Hall will be the moderator and help direct the model and take requests from participants on poses and timing. Other than that, participants are on their own to draw or create using the model as inspiration. No materials are provided. Participants are encouraged to bring easels to use. Some drawing horses are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Advance registration is strongly encouraged even for a single date; drop-ins are welcome but may be turned away if the session is full.

Frederica Hall follows a multi-disciplinary approach in the arts, working primarily in visual arts that source performance-art and vice versa. Her work is informed by the mysterious surrounding cosmos, reflections on myth, metaphor, and humanities’ uncharted origins.

Monday evenings, 6-9pm, June 3- July 22, 2019*Make up date schedule for July 29. Drop-ins welcome!

The Flagstaff Arts Council will host open sessions for artists to draw from a live model in the main gallery at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The eight-week series is for those artists who would like to practice drawing or other art working from a live model but do not wish to have instruction. Participants may register to attend all eight sessions at a discounted rate: $130 for Arts Council members and/or students, or $140 for the public. Otherwise, participants may sign up for individual dates at $18/session for members and $20/session for nonmembers.

Please note that there is NO instruction provided. Frederica Hall will be the moderator and help direct the model and take requests from participants on poses and timing. Other than that, participants are on their own to draw or create using the model as inspiration. No materials are provided. Participants are encouraged to bring easels to use. Some drawing horses are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Advance registration is strongly encouraged even for a single date; drop-ins are welcome but may be turned away if the session is full.

Frederica Hall follows a multi-disciplinary approach in the arts, working primarily in visual arts that source performance-art and vice versa. Her work is informed by the mysterious surrounding cosmos, reflections on myth, metaphor, and humanities’ uncharted origins.

Monday evenings, 6-9pm, June 3- July 22, 2019*Make up date schedule for July 29. Drop-ins welcome!

The Flagstaff Arts Council will host open sessions for artists to draw from a live model in the main gallery at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The eight-week series is for those artists who would like to practice drawing or other art working from a live model but do not wish to have instruction. Participants may register to attend all eight sessions at a discounted rate: $130 for Arts Council members and/or students, or $140 for the public. Otherwise, participants may sign up for individual dates at $18/session for members and $20/session for nonmembers.

Please note that there is NO instruction provided. Frederica Hall will be the moderator and help direct the model and take requests from participants on poses and timing. Other than that, participants are on their own to draw or create using the model as inspiration. No materials are provided. Participants are encouraged to bring easels to use. Some drawing horses are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Advance registration is strongly encouraged even for a single date; drop-ins are welcome but may be turned away if the session is full.

Frederica Hall follows a multi-disciplinary approach in the arts, working primarily in visual arts that source performance-art and vice versa. Her work is informed by the mysterious surrounding cosmos, reflections on myth, metaphor, and humanities’ uncharted origins.

SPACE BETWEEN is an exploration of two artists with adjacent yet distinctive styles. Both Flagstaff locals, Sky Black and Jacques Cazaubon Seronde (“Cazo”) both strive to create works that are accessible to the viewer while maintaining an endowment of the unexpected. Whether this breach of expectation comes in the form of figures and foliage emerging from the paint itself, or surreal combinations of animals and humans, both painters commit themselves to the process of creating quality handmade images.

TheOpening Reception will take place Saturday, August 24, 6-8pm. Featuring a short performance by Dapper Dre, music by DJ Marty Mar, light refreshments and beer provided by Mother Road Brewing Co.

Exhibition Open: June 18 – July 27, 2019 | Wed-Sat, 11am-5pm
Find out more about the show and artist bios on the exhibition page, here.

Bill Callahan
With Jake Xerxes Fussell

After almost 20 years of using the alias Smog for his music, Bill Callahan switched to his given name for his releases after 2005’s A River Ain’t Too Much to Love. The 2007 EP Diamond Dancer and full-length Woke on a Whaleheartboth mixed the intimate, reflective, largely acoustic sound of later Smog albums like Supper and A River with gospel, soul, and pop elements, and boasted arrangements by former Royal Trux mastermind Neil Hagerty. For 2009’s Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, Callahan returned to the more intimate acoustic-based sound of latter-era Smog albums, featuring string and brass arrangements by Brian Beattie. The live album Rough Travel for a Rare Thing arrived in March 2010, and in July Callahan issued his 79-page “epistolary novelette” Letters to Emma Bowlcut, comprised of 62 letters from a nameless protagonist to a woman he saw at a party. Callahan kicked off 2011 with Apocalypse, a more uptempo collection of seven country- and blues-inspired rock tunes that recalled some of his edgier work with Smog. A softer offering, Dream River, was issued in the fall of 2013. The next year Have Fun with Godsurfaced, remixing the eight tracks of Dream River in more haunted and electronic styles.

The show will take place on Monday, September 2, 2019, doors are at 7pm and the show will start at 8pm. Tickets are $16 in advance and $18 on the day of the show. Tickets can be purchased online, in person at Coconino Center for the Arts. All ticket sales are final – no refunds will be issued.

Concert-goers can save on hotel rooms with our partner, Embassy Suites in Flagstaff. Use booking code: ART to save 20% on your next visit to Flagstaff! Visit: tinyurl.com/y8t7rxvy to book today.

Open Figure Drawing Sessions
with moderator Frederica Hall

Tuesday evenings, 6-9pm, September 10 – October 29, 2019

The Flagstaff Arts Council will host open sessions for artists to draw from a live model in the main gallery at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The eight-week series is for those artists who would like to practice drawing or other art working from a live model but do not wish to have instruction. Participants may register to attend all eight sessions at a discounted rate: $125 for Arts Council members and students, or $145 for the public. Otherwise, participants may sign up for individual dates at $18/session for members and $20/session for nonmembers.

Please note that there is NO instruction provided. Frederica Hall will be the moderator and help direct the model and take requests from participants on poses and timing. Other than that, participants are on their own to draw or create using the model as inspiration. No materials are provided. Participants are encouraged to bring easels to use. Some drawing horses are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Advance registration is strongly encouraged even for a single date; drop-ins are welcome but may be turned away if the session is full.

Frederica Hall follows a multi-disciplinary approach in the arts, working primarily in visual arts that source performance-art and vice versa. Her work is informed by the mysterious surrounding cosmos, reflections on myth, metaphor, and humanities’ uncharted origins.

Living Traditions Presentations and the Flagstaff Arts Council present

Old Blind Dogs

Since forming in the early 1990’s, Old Blind Dogs have stood on the cutting edge of Scotland’s roots revival. The band has developed its own trademark style with an energetic mix of songs and tunes. Dynamic percussion, polished vocals, soaring fiddle and stirring pipes fuel the delicately-phrased melodies and traditional songs.

“The Old Blind Dogs play with a compelling energy and intoxicating rhythm,” says The Scotsman, “as players and audience seem to share a wild ecstasy of emotion.” Sixteen years is a long time in the life of any band and most who reach that milestone are content to rest on the tried and true formulas that have worked in the past. Not so for Scotland’s Old Blind Dogs whose newly released Four on the Floor takes them bravely in many new directions.

The Dogs, one of Scotland’s most highly touted traditional folk bands, are not known for shying away from change. A strong, shared musical vision has allowed the group to ride out inevitable line-up changes to the extent that the only original member still with the band is Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar and vocals). The Dogs popularity has never dimmed though and the current foursome of Hardie, Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals), Ali Hutton (Border pipes, whistles, vocals) and Donald Hay (drums, percussion) have proven more than capable of carrying on the tradition of the band that the Montreal Gazette called …a Scots neo-traditional supergroup with a bracingly modern musical attack. Together, in varying line-ups along with past members Buzzby McMillan (bass, bouzouki, vocals), Davy Cattanach (percussion, vocals), Fraser Fifield (saxophone, small pipes), Paul Jennings (percussion), Fraser Stone (percussion), Rory Campbell (Border pipes, whistles, vocals) and singer/guitarists Ian Benzie and Jim Malcolm, the Dogs have released eleven albums and have won numerous awards including the prestigious title of Folk Band of the Year at the 2004 and 2007 Scots Trad Music Awards. Their album ‘Four On The Floor’ picked up the IAP ‘Best Celtic CD’ Award and their last CD, ‘Wherever Yet May Be’ was nominated for the same award.

Open Figure Drawing Sessions
with moderator Frederica Hall

Tuesday evenings, 6-9pm, September 10 – October 29, 2019

The Flagstaff Arts Council will host open sessions for artists to draw from a live model in the main gallery at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The eight-week series is for those artists who would like to practice drawing or other art working from a live model but do not wish to have instruction. Participants may register to attend all eight sessions at a discounted rate: $125 for Arts Council members and students, or $145 for the public. Otherwise, participants may sign up for individual dates at $18/session for members and $20/session for nonmembers.

Please note that there is NO instruction provided. Frederica Hall will be the moderator and help direct the model and take requests from participants on poses and timing. Other than that, participants are on their own to draw or create using the model as inspiration. No materials are provided. Participants are encouraged to bring easels to use. Some drawing horses are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Advance registration is strongly encouraged even for a single date; drop-ins are welcome but may be turned away if the session is full.

Frederica Hall follows a multi-disciplinary approach in the arts, working primarily in visual arts that source performance-art and vice versa. Her work is informed by the mysterious surrounding cosmos, reflections on myth, metaphor, and humanities’ uncharted origins.

Open Figure Drawing Sessions
with moderator Frederica Hall

Tuesday evenings, 6-9pm, September 10 – October 29, 2019

The Flagstaff Arts Council will host open sessions for artists to draw from a live model in the main gallery at the Coconino Center for the Arts. The eight-week series is for those artists who would like to practice drawing or other art working from a live model but do not wish to have instruction. Participants may register to attend all eight sessions at a discounted rate: $125 for Arts Council members and students, or $145 for the public. Otherwise, participants may sign up for individual dates at $18/session for members and $20/session for nonmembers.

Please note that there is NO instruction provided. Frederica Hall will be the moderator and help direct the model and take requests from participants on poses and timing. Other than that, participants are on their own to draw or create using the model as inspiration. No materials are provided. Participants are encouraged to bring easels to use. Some drawing horses are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Advance registration is strongly encouraged even for a single date; drop-ins are welcome but may be turned away if the session is full.

Frederica Hall follows a multi-disciplinary approach in the arts, working primarily in visual arts that source performance-art and vice versa. Her work is informed by the mysterious surrounding cosmos, reflections on myth, metaphor, and humanities’ uncharted origins.

Sway Wild (featuring Mandy Fer & Dave McGraw)
Album Release Show

Laura Totten Photography

Internationally-acclaimed songwriters Mandy Fer & Dave McGraw (from San Juan Island, Washington State, US), now joined by long-time friend and bassist Thom Lord, are back at it with a new sound, new album and new name – Sway Wild! Their exceptional harmonies coupled with Fer’s pioneering electric guitar work have become a vehicle to carry them around the world, sharing the stage with such acts as Iron & Wine, Glen Hansard, Lake Street Dive, Gregory Alan Isakov and many others. Winning over audiences from Alaska to Amsterdam, Sway Wild performs a heartfelt and dynamic blend of innovative folk-rock, pop, and funk. Their debut self-titled Sway Wild album includes special guests Birds of Chicago, Sean Hayes, Anna Tivel and others and will be released worldwide on September 13th, 2019.

The show will take place on Thursday, September 26, 2019, doors are at 7pm and the show will start at 7:30pm. Tickets are $18 for arts Council Members, $20 Advanced, $24 Day of Show. Tickets can be purchased online by clicking the link below. All ticket sales are final – No refunds will be issued.

Concerts

Flagstaff Arts Council presents Emily Scott Robinson North Carolina native Emily Scott Robinson has traveled a quarter million miles and counting, paying her dues along the dusty highways of America’s wild country in the RV she calls home. Along the way, she’s captured the stories of the people she met and expertly crafted them into[...]

Flagstaff Arts Council presents Slaid Cleaves & Robbie Fulks Slaid Cleaves The music of Austin-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Slaid Cleaves is rootedin country and traditional folk songs, but it is unusual enough to have held interest in a sea of singer/songwriters across the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. While he released a handful of recordings during the[...]